"David Ingram has provided us with what is unquestionably the most comprehensive introduction to one of the most demanding systems of thought, without sacrificing critical distance.(.....) The book is a versatile toolbox, which will make it a must for anyone aiming to teach Habermas or the transformations of Critical Theory in the last decades. Above all, however, it is also a substantive contribution to the tradition to which Habermas belongs, for it is a critique of reason by way of an immanent critique of communicative rationality itself. Seasoned Habermasians will have to read it as well."

The review also contains some information on a forthcoming book by Habermas on "Faith and Reason":

"Since 2008, Habermas has been working on a large manuscript on "Faith and Reason" in which he is rethinking Western sociological theory in light of the failure of religion to wither away like a flower in the desert of rationalized world-views. In this manuscript Habermas is also revising his theory of the origins of language, taking up the work of paleontologists, anthropologists, and cognitive and brain development theorists. In addition, he is revisiting his phenomenological theory of the life-world and the emergence of world-views from the secularization of religious doctrines."

See my post on David Ingram's new book here.Thanks to Ali Rizvi for the pointer.

Axel Honneth is Professor of Social Philosophy at Goethe University and Director of the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt am Main. Later this year, Honneth will join the Philosophy Department at Columbia University.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

With his theory of communicative rationality, Jürgen Habermas has been one of the most influential social philosophers of the 20th century and a major dialogue partner for theology in the different stages of his work. Systematic and practical theology, theory of religious education and theological ethics have offered creative receptions and astute critiques. The book explores Habermas's renewal of Critical Theory of the first generation of the Frankfurt School through his paradigm change from the philosophy of consciousness to language. His postmetaphysical understanding of philosophy and the foundations of his discourse ethics are followed up into his recent demand for a species ethics in critique of genetic enhancement. The philosophical critiques of his work that are relevant for theology are explained and the successive phases of his view of religion are traced: supersessionism, co-existence, and finally cooperation in offering specific resources and shared criteria for public debate on the future directions of a technologically shaped pluralist culture.

Part 1. The Theological Reception and Critique of Habermas's Work in the First Two Phases of Its View of Religion

1. Attraction and Critique of Habermas's Theory of Communicative Action in the Disciplines of Theology

Part 2. Habermas's Theory of Communicative Reason in Philosophical Debate

2. The Paradigm Change from the Philosophy of Consciousness to Language Theory3. The Relationship of Metaphysics to Modernity4. Postmetaphysical Philosophy as Stand-in and as Interpreter5. The Foundation of the Discourse Theory of Morality6. The Motivation for Agency and the Aporias of Morality

Part 3. The Current Phase: Cooperation and Translation in Theological Debate

7. The Rediscovery of Religion in the Genealogy of Reason and the Foundation of a Species Ethics8. Religious Resources for the Project of Modernity in Theological Debate

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

In Why Political Liberalism?, Paul Weithman offers a fresh, rigorous, and compelling interpretation of John Rawls's reasons for taking his so-called "political turn".

Weithman painstakingly reconstructs Rawls's attempts to show that a just society would be stable, and just as carefully shows why Rawls came to think those arguments were inconsistent with other parts of his theory. Weithman then shows that the changes Rawls introduced into his view between "Theory of Justice" and "Political Liberalism" result from his attempt to remove the inconsistency and show that the hazard of the generalized prisoner's dilemma can be averted after all. Recovering Rawls's two treatments of stability helps to answer contested questions about the role of the original position and the foundations of justice as fairness. The result is a powerful and unified reading of Rawls's work that explains his political turn and shows his enduring engagement with some of the deepest concerns of human life.

1. The Public Basis View2. Stability and Congruence3. Ideals and Inconsistency4, The Acquisition of Four Desires5. Thin Reasons to Be Just6. The Argument from Love to Justice7. Kantian Congruence and the Unified Self8. The Great Unraveling9. The Political Ideals of Justice as Fairness10. Comprehensive Reasons to Be Just11. Conclusion: Why Political Liberalism?

Dr. Ken'ichi Mishima is professor for social philosophy and contemporary philosophy at Tokyo Keizai University. He is the author of numerious books on German philosophy and critical theory, including works on Nietzsche and Walter Benjamin. Since 2002, he has been a member of the international council for the Institute of Social Research in Frankfurt/Main.

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Given our concern with human dignity, it is odd that it has received comparatively little scrutiny. Here, George Kateb asks what human dignity is and why it matters for the claim to rights. He proposes that dignity is an “existential” value that pertains to the identity of a person as a human being. To injure or even to try to efface someone’s dignity is to treat that person as not human or less than human — as a thing or instrument or subhuman creature. Kateb does not limit the notion of dignity to individuals but extends it to the human species. The dignity of the human species rests on our uniqueness among all other species. In the book’s concluding section, he argues that despite the ravages we have inflicted on it, nature would be worse off without humanity. The supremely fitting task of humanity can be seen as a “stewardship” of nature.

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

There are, always, more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in oners"s philosophy-and in these essays Charles Taylor turns to those things not fully imagined or avenues not wholly explored in his epochal A Secular Age. Here Taylor talks in detail about thinkers who are his allies and interlocutors, such as Iris Murdoch, Alasdair MacIntyre, Robert Brandom, and Paul Celan. He offers major contributions to social theory, expanding on the issues of nationalism, democratic exclusionism, religious mobilizations, and modernity. And he delves even more deeply into themes taken up in A Secular Age: the continuity of religion from the past into the future; the nature of the secular; the folly of hoping to live by "reason alone"; the perils of moralism. He also speculates on how irrationality emerges from the heart of rationality itself, and why violence breaks out again and again.In A Secular Age, Taylor more evidently foregrounded his Catholic faith, and there are several essays here that further explore that faith.